an adventure in baby-making

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Monthly Archives: April 2012

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Diamonds or Emeralds? The question is still up for debate, I’ve got one more day for a diamondwhich symbolizes innocence, and many days to follow that will indicate an emerald, symbolizing love or success. In any case it looks like I will be raising a Taurus, the bull. Let’s just hope his horns are easy on the exit!!

What an amazing day in San Diego! There really are so many, but when everything comes together on an April weekend, I realize just how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful city. The hubs and I spent the afternoon walking the Encinitas Street Fair and found some interesting trinkets and had some good eats. The sun felt great and the walking, well, it’s getting harder, but I will continue to do it, so long as this baby comes soon.

It is safe to say, that at 35 weeks, I was not exactly feeling super sexy in this pregnancy bod. But it wasn’t a minute sooner that I thought about the idea of actually taking some maternity photos, and forever documenting this curvaceous figure on high gloss. Hmmm… quite the conundrum. As I began to process the time and energy it would take to execute this photo shoot, I got discouraged and almost threw in the towel.

Most people I know that have done this sort of shoot hire a professional to pose them and get some flattering light on all the right places. With five weeks til my due date, I didn’t have time on my side and scheduling out a few weeks was really out of the question. Not to mention that spending a couple hundred dollars on photos that I would likely look and feel puffy and piggy in didn’t sound that enticing either. Luckily, my hubby and I spent a small fortune on a nice camera a couple of years back and surely, with the right person behind the lens, we could get a few good shots on the auto settings.

Enter, Joy, my BFF and jack-of-all-trades. She agreed to the challenge and willingly came over to my house, supporting another one of my crazy ideas without any objections. I had a slew of photos I found on the web that I wanted to try to emulate and that is where the afternoon began. My husband would poke his head in to laugh and make fun with a few comments throughout the afternoon, but in all seriousness, I think we got some good ones (with minimal help from Photoshop, wink, wink).

My suggestion to anyone wanting these kind of photos for themselves in the future, try scheduling during your seventh month. Hoping and praying for a good day, without puffiness, skin problems, back problems, moodiness, etc. near the end is risky. I feel like I got EXTREMELY lucky at 36 weeks prego.

Joy, I really can’t thank you enough, you are amazing and we (me and baby) are so grateful to have you in our life. xoxo

This was actually a lot harder than I would’ve imagined, then again, I could just be making harder than it will actually be. In any case, I asked my friends and read through plenty of online information to come up with my bag-o-tricks. The question I asked myself was “how can you make yourself comfortable in, likely, one of the most uncomfortable situations in your life?”

Every hospital is different and will provide you with different amenities. I started my journey with a trip to the hospital, a tour of Mary Birch. I am extremely happy that I decided to do this, not that I felt I had a choice, my doctor scolded me for not doing it sooner. It was great seeing where everything was, checking out both the labor and recovery rooms and in general, just getting my bearings. The tour guide provided ample time for questions and answered many of my concerns I had about the process. We were also provided with a packet (which I’m sure I had received before) with loads of useful information about what the hospital offers before, during and after the birth of your baby.

My favorite suggestions from friends (in addition to a lot of those mentioned above):

Water spray mist in a can (I chose PM Awapuhi Moisture Mist), goodies for mommy for after delivery (Milk Duds definitely made the cut), including something good to drink (Gatorade), pj’s, robe, underware in black (get it? got it. check.), toilet paper that I like (Cottonelle flushable wet wipes), change of clothes for hubby and a laptop (iPad loaded with movie rentals).

Another appointment with my doctor turns up no new happenings in the labor department. It seems as though our little bundle is as happy as a clam in his present home. I’m turning up the volume on my physical activity and hoping that we’ll get something going soon. Head was down ever so slightly from last week and cervix has started to dimple (not so much dilate). I was able to get a bunch of house work done today, so maybe he’s just allowing me the extra time to prepare his future home…hmmm…

Send some good juju my way please, I’m so anxious to meet my little guy!